The Adventures of a Christian Mom, Grandma and cancer surviver!

The sun IS shining – it’s going to be a High 80’s day and I’m glad – I LOVE this last little bit of Summer weather before the (dreaded) Fall/Winter cold & snow. Today, so far, is open-ended – no particular plans for the day (which is nice). I’m guessing I’ll get the text later today to babysit my little grandson tomorrow, so that makes today all the sweeter. (Don’t get me wrong – I love my grandson & spending time with him BUT…I’m not getting any younger and lifting a 22 lb. baby is quite a feat for me so I don’t do it very much if I can avoid it. I have taken to getting down on the floor to change diapers to prevent the ‘carrying’ – works for me.)

Have been working on the new mint
green baby afghan; originally I wrote
that it didn’t have a name BUT…after
working up about 2 inches of the pattern
it sunk in: I’ve done this before! This is
actually the Plume Pattern that I’ve
made two other afghans in. It’s a pretty
pattern and not too difficult; I was
hoping for something NEW that I’d
never knit before but…found this on
a slip of paper I’d written out and just
kept going. Oh well – it will work! Almost
done with the white & striped blanket
(will show a photo soon); this is another
charity knit and I’m happy it turned out
nicely. This one was done using up some
pretty tiny/fuzzy yarns I was given years
ago (kind of hated to use them because they’re

now discontinued & I haven’t been able to
locate something similar). Oh well –
it was given to me to USE, so that’s what I’m
doing!

Managed to visit a few garage sales over
the weekend and score a few deals: one
sale had lots of women’s tops in my size
(think I bought 6). Yesterday I stopped at
the local Farmer’s Market where they
were holding their annual Community
Garage Sale; bought 5 nice, ripe tomatoes,
one huge green pepper and got 2 FREE
paperback books! (total spent: $4.50 for
the veggies!). They had tons of various
items for sale but nothing interested me –
oh well, it’s all about the ADVENTURE,
right?

Not that Fall is my favorite season, but it IS nice to see all the leaves change colors – I’ll give you that. Also love apples – apple anything! Just made a small apple crisp the other day because a friend gave me a small bag of apples (the crisp is almost gone!). I know lots of people live for the changing of the seasons especially for the ‘pumpkin-everything’ – pies, cookies, cakes, brownies, etc, not counting all the various coffee drinks!

I still have a few more Summer recipes to share so I’ll try to place them in this post before we get colder weather and all the summer recipes are put away until next year.

============

Cookies ‘n Cream Brownies

1 box brownie mix plus
ingredients to prepare (as listed
on box)
16 Oreo cookies
4 Hershey “Cookies ‘n Creme candy
bars
melted chocolate, for drizzling
(optional)
–
Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
Line a 8 X 8″square baking pan
with parchment paper. Prepare
brownie batter per box instructions.
Pour batter into prepared pan then
lay down Oreo cookies on top in
an even layer, pressing cookies down
so the batter covers them almost
completely. Bake 35 minutes until a
toothpick inserted into center comes
out mostly clean. Let cool completely
in pan. Place unwrapped candy bars
in medium microwave-safe bowl.
Microwave on 50 per cent power
until they are melted – pour over
the brownies & smooth into even
layer using a spatula. Refrigerate
10 minutes then drizzle top with
melted chocolate, if using. Cut
into squares. Serves 16

Our weather is gorgeous today: sunny &
86 degrees F. I read that this Fall is going to
be un-seasonably warm for much longer
than usual – interesting…

I started a new baby afghan today – mint
green (sport weight yarn) in another knit
lace pattern. Not exactly sure where I
found this pattern; apparently I just copied
down the pattern without including the
site/place I found it – no name, either, but
it’s a rather easy pattern and works up
nicely. (Yes, I’m back to my old ‘several
projects on the needles’ at once.) Currently
there’s the 3/4ths finished knit baby afghan
in white & stripes of pink, green, blue & yellow;
a 3/4ths done scarf for the homeless, the new
mint green afghan and am also working on
making more baby headbands for Detroit
Vets baby shower NEXT year. (The lady in
charge said they were a big hit – this year
I only made 8 so I’m attempting to get more
done for next year.) Oh…and baby hats
whenever I feel ‘inspired’ to make them. I
have a ‘go’ bag which has the supplies to
make hats – I usually take that with me if
I’m going to an appointment or know I’m
going to sit for long periods of time; also
have the same thing in my car – I don’t
like wasting time just sitting; would much
rather be doing something constructive –
know what I mean?

And THIS is what happens when I don’t get to babysit for almost 2 1/2 weeks! He’s got 2 bottom teeth now, crawls a lot, pulls himself to a stand AND says: “Da-da!” I had a happy/fun sitting yesterday (it was NOT as long as the last time: 10 1/2 hours!). This time I was there 4 hrs 15 minutes AND he took a nap from 11:25 a.m. – 2:05! SCORE! He’s also grabbing at the babygate & shaking it; believe me, I was extra vigilant at the safety issues. I know at his last pediatrician’s visit they said he was in the 95 percentile in height & weight – this boy is really striving to break all the baby standards!

*If you don’t have buttermilk:
Pour 1 T. lemon juice or vinegar into
a 1 or 2-Cup measuring cup. Pour in
milk to reach the 1-cup measure &
stir using a fork. Let stand 5 minutes
and you have buttermilk!

Using elec. mixer, whip cream cheese until
fluffy. Add powdered sugar, a little at a time,
scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix
in vanilla. Once cake is cooled, frost with
frosting.
Serves 8

(recipe: crockpotladies.com)

===================

Right now I’m waiting for my Apple Crisp to
finish baking; a church friend gave me a bag
of apples Sunday & they had to be used up
quickly. I’ve noticed, now that all of our boys
are officially moved out, that husband & I
don’t eat as much – hence leftovers last a
LOT longer than before. Made Pork Cube
Steaks, corn-on-the-cob & big tossed salad
for dinner . . . there’s enough for dinner for
both of us tonight, also! Seems funny learning
how to cook for just TWO people! (The apple
crisp is a small one – apples only made a
8 X 8″ pan, so I don’t see that lasting very
long around here!).

Hope you are all in good health & enjoying
the last of the Summer weather. I’m still
(as I do every year) rooting for Indian
Summer. For those of you who don’t know
what I’m talking about, here in Michigan
we are ‘usually’ gifted with a short period
of days (sometimes almost a week) of
un-seasonably warm weather (like it
would be in July – in the high 80’s) before
we get really cold Fall weather. Indian
Summer also usually comes after we’ve
had a short period of cooler temperatures;
maybe you can see why I always really
HOPE we’ll get that last little bit of WARM
before the cold sets in. It’s been nice the
past few days, lows of 60’s/high of mid-
80’s with a brief period of drizzle yesterday.

Gas Prices: I’ve been wondering if the recent
hurricanes would affect the gas prices; for a
short few days prices went up about 10 cents
a gallon to the $2.59/9 range but now they’re
back down to $2.33/9 per gallon.

Cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces &
place in large pot. Cover with water
& bring to boil. Lower heat to medium
& cook 20-25 minutes until potatoes
are soft when tested with tines of a
fork. Drain well & place into large
bowl. Using elec. mixer, mash potatoes
slowly, adding milk, cream, butter then
olive/garlic mixture – until fluffy &
smooth. Cover & keep warm until ready
to serve.

Cut steak into 4 serving-sized pieces.
Rub steaks with olive oil on all surfaces.
Heat an outside grill or stovetop grill
pan & grill steaks 4 minutes per side
for medium rare/or longer, as desired.
After first 4 minutes turn steaks & top
each steak with mozzarella slices; the
cheese will melt as steak finishes
cooking. Serve steaks with potatoes &
top with some of onion/mushroom
mixture. Serves 4

Last night was the Pick Up date for all of the lovely knitted & crocheted baby items for the upcoming Detroit Veterans Hospital’s Annual Baby Shower. The lady who is the Women’s Coordinator for the event told us there will be 17 Moms attending the shower. This year our group donated 87 knit & crocheted items! 24 blankets, 42 hats, 11 sets of booties, 2 snuggle sacks and 8 baby headbands – I’d say we MORE THAN covered the moms this time! (I was going to post all of the photos, but there are 17 photos, so I decided not to). The ladies in my group continue to amaze me with their generosity – so happy they participated in showing love to these Vets Moms!

Crumb Topping:In large stir oats, brown sugar & flour.
Using a pastry blender, cut in butter
until topping resembles coarse crumbs –
sprinkle on top of apples in pan. Bake
40-45 minutes until apples are tender. If
it is starting to brown too fast, cover top
with foil the last 5-10 minutes of baking.
Cool slightly.

Homemade caramel:Place all ingredients in medium saucepan
over medium-low to medium heat. Cook,
while whisking gently, 5-7 minutes until
thicker. Turn off heat. Serve warm or
refrigerate until cold. Drizzle caramel on
top of apple slab pie then serve.
Serves 25

In medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, lemon
zest, baking powder, salt & nutmeg using
a fork until well combined. Using 2 butter
knives or a pastry cutter, cut in cold bits
of butter into flour mixture until it
resembles a coarse meal with small pea-
sized pieces of butter. In small bowl whisk
eggs & vanilla with a fork & gently toss
egg mixture into flour/butter mixture
until moistened & dough starts to hold
together & create clumps of dough.
Sprinkle cobbler topping evenly over
blueberries in crockpot. Cover opening
of crockpot with paper towels or a clean
kitchen towel; cover with lid. (toweling
will absorb any condensation that will
collect on lid while cooking, preventing
it from dripping onto cobbler.) Cook
on High 3-4 hours until you can see the
juices from the blueberries bubbling
around edges of crockpot. Check
cobbler at 3 hour mark & only cook
for additional time if needed. Turn
off crockpot & carefully remove lid
& toweling. Let cobbler cool slightly
before serving. Serve with vanilla
ice cream or whipped cream, if
desired. Serves 8

(recipe: crockpotladies.com)

=================

I know that this week has been very trying
for SO many people in our country – prayers
sent out for all those that battled the storms &
fires – I can’t even imagine.

I noticed in our local paper that they are saying
the gas prices will rise due to the recent weather
situations; yesterday I observed our local station’s
prices are up to $2.59/9 (from $2.39/9) – it’s
understandable. I would imagine produce will
greatly increase in price as well as other items
that would normally be shipped by land; we’ll
see.

Our weather is in the low 70’s during the day,
sunny (supposed to rain tomorrow).

Hello! Been awhile since I’ve posted (or, it feels that way to me) – been playing ‘catch up’. Next Tuesday is the official “Pick Up” date for all the knit/crocheted baby items for the Detroit Veterans Hospital’s Baby shower so I’ve been trying to make sure all the details are covered; example: drove to meet a fellow group member to pick up EIGHT flannel baby blankets she’d made – she won’t be able to attend next week’s meeting. Also delivered 40 baby hats to the local hospital – after next Tuesday I’ll FINALLY be back to ‘Ground Zero’ – meaning I won’t have any more baby projects awaiting delivery – YAY! (You know, of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t be creating more…just means I don’t have any LEFT to give away!). Right now I’m working on the peach/white baby blanket for my friend who’s due in February (this blanket is for IF she has a girl, already have a blue one for the other choice); a white & muted baby colors striped blanket for Crisis Pregnancy Center and a dark plum colored scarf for the needy/homeless this winter (getting a head start!). Of course, I also am doing my ‘usual’ – perusing various knit stitch/pattern sites for new ideas for more blankets…I’m incorrigible on that one-grin! Love keeping busy and being able to give things away.

In my many travels yesterday (meeting lady to pick up flannel blankets/stop at JoAnn’s/stop at WalMart) I picked up a rather sad-looking skein of mint green baby yarn that had lost it’s tag/band information – it was one of those BIG skeins; got it for $4.00 at WalMart in the Clearance section just because it didn’t have a band – SCORE! Also picked up some blue/white/darker blues cotton skeins to knit up some spa cloths for oldest son’s girlfriend (baby’s Mom) for Christmas – it’s SO nice to see something you made for someone actually being USED! I’ve seen the ones I made her last year hanging WET on the shower bar – YAY!

(example of my ‘crazy knit stitches/patterns’ obsession: just found a really pretty knit sweater pattern (NO, I’m NOT a sweater/garment knitter) but am going to attempt the bottom pattern & see if I can make it into a baby blanket!

Speaking of BABY – he’s now crawling and popping another tooth – sigh. I’m almost in trepidation when getting the request to babysit now; went Tuesday and wasn’t sure just WHAT to expect. Arrived and there was no big blanket on the floor for him to play on, no Pack & Play (port-a-crib) up – nothing! I asked & was told: “Oh, he crawls everywhere now!” UGH! Where do you put him when you suddenly have to go to the bathroom? She mentioned putting him in the bouncer – LET ME TELL YA – that ‘item’ takes some time & patience to get BOTH little feet & legs in the holes WITHOUT jamming his feet or knees; can’t imagine trying to do that when you REALLY have to go potty! UGH! Fortunately he was in the bouncer for a good 45 minutes before fussing. Made him a bottle & he slept until his Dad got home about 50 minutes later! SCORE!

I’m going to attempt to post ALL the
Summer Recipes very soon so I don’t
forget any AND so you can enjoy them
before cold weather sets in. Speaking
of weather – it’s a little colder here in
Michigan (could be due to all the
hurricane influences, although we are
far from both hurricanes) – it’s been
getting into the low 70’s and almost a
little chilly when it gets to evenings.
I’ve also noticed gas prices went up-
possibly due to the hurricanes; used
to be $2.49/9 and now we’re at
$2.59/9 – not bad, just a little higher.

Hope you are ALL SAFE AND IN GOOD
HEALTH. Please remember to take
good care of YOURSELF! (You can’t help
others if YOU aren’t doing well – right?)

Here we are at Saturday AND the second day in September – Wow, did that come up fast! So far, don’t have any actual ‘plans’ for these few days (Saturday-Monday); I put spareribs in the crockpot yesterday & we had BBQ ribs, corn on the cob & baked potatoes . . . yummy. Don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but ribs in a crockpot come out SO moist & fall-off-the-bones! AND – corn on the cob cooked in the microwave is SO EASY! Last year I saw a video on YouTube that changed my way of cooking corn on the cob:

He’s right – it comes out really easily from the silks/husks and tastes great!

*To speed up whipping the cream, place
bowl & elec. mixer beaters in freezer
about 15 minutes to get ice cold. The
colder, the better as it will speed up
the process of whipping the cream
(usually 2-3 minutes instead of 5
minutes or more).

**If you don’t want to use heavy whipping
cream, you can use 8 oz. tub Cool Whip,
thawed – combine half of tub with
remaining lemon pudding mix & other
half to top pie.(recipe: togetherasfamily.com)
———————————-

Start with a piece of bacon; add
a piece of chicken then weave
bacon back over the skewer. Add
a cherry tomato & weave bacon
back over skewer. Repeat, using
2 pieces of bacon per skewer. Season
skewers with salt/pepper. Lay a
piece of foil down on brill & add
skewers. Grill, turning occasionally,
until chicken is no longer pink &
bacon is cooked through &crispy,
8 minutes per side. Drizzle skewers
with Ranch dressing & garnish with
chives. Makes 8 skewers

Yesterday found me baby/kid sitting for 10 hours! Mind you, my grandsons are great BUT I’m 69 1/2 and not getting any younger! The day before youngest grandson, now 6 months, popped his first bottom tooth AND had 3 baby shots at the doctors! Yep, you guessed it – he was cranky! We started out the day just great – he had fun playing on the floor but…when it came time for him to take a nap he really fought it. Finally ‘crashed’ – for a total of 20 minutes…sigh. Older grandson (age 11) helped at times keeping the baby amused but about 5 p.m. or so the baby got REALLY cranky – ugh. (Mind you – it was also Knit/Crochet night at 6:30…so I was really sweating it that my son got home before I needed to leave!). Fast forward to 6 p.m., 6:15 finally son arrived. Baby FINALLY slept and I left to go home, change clothes, brush hair, grab knit stuff & go to Panera. When I arrived (a little late) at Panera the ladies all said: “You look EXHAUSTED! What happened?” They were right, took me about 5 minutes to just process what I was doing next – stood in line for food/drink and rather zombie-like ordered food (almost like point at sign & grunt). I made it through the evening – SOoooooooo glad to be home. Today is a ‘down’ day and I’m fully planning on relaxing as much as possible (tonight is special needs group). You can REALLY feel just how (semi) old you’re getting after a 10 hour babysitting day – let me tell ya! (Oh, Thursday older grandson is coming over to our house for a few hours …hopefully only a FEW hours while baby’s Mom takes baby to a baby appointment.)

Due to all the hurricane weather in our country, our weather
has cooled off considerably – high 60’s to low
70’s, overcast & rainy. (Feels like Fall – ugh).

I noticed the gas prices also jumped about 20
cents a gallon – we’re now looking at $2.59/9for regular.

Hope you are able to take a little time each
day to do something for you: a nice warm
cuppa-something you like (or iced, if that’s
your favorite), maybe a 10-minute nap,
read a book, do a crossword or word-search
puzzle – something to let your mind & body
RELAX a little – you’re worth it!

Today finds me going in lots of different directions: In the next week I have to get all the information together to send the next 2-month newsletter for my special needs group (and it needs to get to them BEFORE the end of the month!). Still trying to coordinate dates with our leader on upcoming gym nights & our Harvest Party in October.

In three weeks the lady from Detroit Vets hospital will be visiting our group to collect all our donations – have been hand-printing tiny labels to go on all their items (the women receiving them like to know who made them). Finished my items & their tags – now on to more printing.

Yesterday found my husband and I doing something we rarely ever do: we took a day-trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan (an hour away). Frankenmuth is a very interesting, beautiful town that is like a mini-Bavaria/Germany: they feature ‘all things German’ – food, decorations, festivals, etc. They have two main restaurants in town that feature just about any German food/beer/desert you might like. We had the ‘most popular dinner’ – fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy & their stuffing. The town, itself, is really pretty – nice & clean. They have horse-drawn carriages if you’d like a tour, boat rides, cheese & sausage shops and . . . all things collectible. Almost every shop you go in has all sorts of things to buy: wall hangings, tiny statues, CHRISTMAS stuff, penny candies – something for everyone. Also, very close by is another world-renown company: Bronner’s “Everything Christmas” store. If you’re into Hummels, or just about anything imaginable having to do with Christmas & decorating (including life-sized Nativity scenes – the kind you might see at a large church for outdoor viewing) – they’ve got it. We skipped Bronners – don’t need more decorations; in fact, the only things we brought home were a Apple Kuchen pie and a tiny beeswax candle that looks like a bee hive with a tiny bee on top (for my friend who is a bee keeper). Ah, the monies we ‘could’ have spent there – great place to visit if you’re interested! (It’s been about 12 years since we’ve gone there – this was part of our 41 year anniversary celebration!)

*PAM’S COMMENT: My husband is
German & comments that packaged
sauerkraut is VERY salty – his solution
is to rinse it in cold water first. Using
this recipe, I would probably drain
any liquid in package then rinse
sauerkraut & add, perhaps a 1/4 C.
more water (which would be the
substitute for the sauerkraut
‘juice’in the bag)

Our weather has been great lately:
mid 70’s & sunny/breezy. Last week
I met up with the lady that coordinates
the Crisis Pregnancy Center Mobile Unit
and delivered more baby blankets. She
mentioned a blanket I made years ago that
she really liked: very simple knit pattern
using white background & various bright
colored stripes – that got me to thinking
so I started another blanket for them using
yarn I had been holding onto. Sometimes
I find myself not wanting to use particular
yarns, knowing you can’t get them any
more – this small ‘batch’ was given to me
years ago by a knitter friend who moved
to Florida. The yarn is a fine, sort of
chenille-like type in very pale pink/blue/
lime green & yellow (each skein is one of
those colors). I dragged out a simple pattern
and have begun the white background with
that particular white/stripes pattern in mind-
just for them. (that makes 2 baby blankets I’m
working on now – yep, you know me – over-
achiever…sigh). Also want to drag out the
various yarns I’ve got stashed for scarves –
we’ll see where that goes! Between coordinating
the knit group & knitting, my special needs group,
church and babysitting my grandsons, I’ve had
a very full summer, I’d say!

Hope you are keeping up with YOUR summer
activities – remember to take a little time for
FUN for YOU! (I have to remind myself of
that very thing – often!)

(would you believe I just wrote this entire blog post then accidentally hit a key & wiped it all out!? UGH!)

Our weather has been all over the place lately: sunny/cloudy/rainy, in the 70’s to 80’s. Did I catch the eclipse? Yep, on TV – it was interesting.

Monday found me checking out a new store to our area: Hobby Lobby. Lots of friends have commented on how great the store/company is so I went to their Grand Opening. They had a Greeting Team and refreshment table – I politely side-stepped that & went to check out (you guessed it) the YARN DEPARTMENT! Was I impressed? Nope – although their prices for skeins was a little lower, so was the SIZE of their skeins! I was looking for BIG balls, NEW colors/combinations/variegated yarns – not impressed (and I thoroughly checked the entire department TWICE). Guess I’ll stick with JoAnn’s, Michaels, Meijers & WalMart for yarns. (There were tons of people there – even some men! All were Ooooooing & Ahing over the products – not for me).

On the knitting scene, finally finished the blue Tassel baby blanket – you’ve seen it ‘in progress’ – it’s a beautiful pattern to waaaay too fussy for me to ever knit it again. (Am holding it for a friend who’s expecting in February and doesn’t yet know the sex of her baby):

I also started another baby blanket for same person – in case she has a girl. This one is done using a variegated fuzzy yarn for the color strips – the yarn goes from light yellow to light peach to a darker peach to white (am going to have to cut out the white parts – they wouldn’t show against the white background. You know me – I’ll be able to use the fuzzy white for baby hats!)

Lastly I finished a ‘needy/homeless’ people scarf – the colors don’t come through in photographs – the yarn is very fuzzy and in all shades of Fall colors: reds, oranges, yellows, dark greens, dark browns.

(insert I’M MAD here – just realized all the recipes I had in the first try at this post will now be GONE – I copy them to this post then erase the original . . . ugh!)

It’s also time to give things away –
tomorrow I meet with the
coordinator of Crisis Pregnancy
Center’s Mobile Unit to hand off
four baby blankets. They give the
expectant moms a blanket if they
agree not to abort their babies.

Coming up in a few weeks is the
pick up date for all knit/crocheted
baby items for Detroit Veterans
Hospital’s Baby Shower. I love
seeing all the wonderful items
my ladies create and know that
the ladies receiving them will be
grateful to have something
hand-made, as well.

Guess I’d better wrap up this post,
eh? Hope you are all well and enjoying
the last vestiges of Summer.